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Thursday, October 15, 2015

Sunkissed by Illumina!

Being the hair colour fanatic that I am, I don't need reasons to colour my hair. I loveeee the feeling of colour in my hair and sometimes the time gap between colouring sessions is even as less as 2 months. I do not colour to cover my greys cause they haven't popped out yet, but if that is the reason why you guys think I regularly colour my hair then :P:P:P. For me, it's all about a new look and colouring my hair is the easiest way to have a makeover for oneself. Loads of you are petrified to colour your hair due to the various myths present, and also in some cases, colours in the market that tend to be so harmful that they spoil your hair completely. Hence it is always necessary to do the research well, and go in for a good brand and a good salon to get your hair colour done.

Having tried practically everything in the Indian market from home colour kits to all that the salons had to offer, I was once again waiting to try something new now. That is when Wella Professionals launched their new ILLUMINA Color in India which is said to be the biggest discovery in colour in the last 20 years and is set to change how we think about hair color forever. Renowned hair colourist and Wella Professional Global Creative Director Josh Wood has created this color which gives you not only luminous shine but also incredible hair. ILLUMINA Color is the most recent addition to the Wella Professionals colour portfolio with 21 shades at launch divided into 3 categories.

The ILLUMINA Color claims to work in such a way that the luminosity you see post the colour session, is luminosity that comes from within the hair and is not just from the outside. Also it claims that the texture of your hair will remain just the same as your virgin hair and feel no different post the colour.

For my experience I headed to the newest swankiest salon in town, the Jean-Claude Biguine Salon at Pali Naka, Bandra. I love the size and ambience of this new place. Was perfect for the 4 hours I was going to spend there. Asif Mohammed, the Senior Style Director was the artist on who's shoulders the responsibility of my new look was placed, and let me tell you post my experience that he is one of the best that I have seen in the hair business.

We started with determining the condition of my hair for which he carried out a manual hair test. According to him, despite me having coloured my hair 8 months ago, the existing colour was in good condition and so was my hair. All this thanks to the care I take of my coloured hair with Wella Professional products. Then we decided on the look we would go for, and the colours that he would use for my hair.

The first step we concluded on was that he would give me a global hair colour and then in step two go in for the highlights.

Step 1: Global Colour

For the global shade, we went for a mix of two Warm shades - 5/35 which is the Light Gold Mahogany Brown and 7/7 which is a Medium Brunette Blonde.

Asif first divided my hair into segments and then applied the mix of the two colours segment wise through my entire hair. We left it on for about 30 mins before washing it off.

The colour turned out fabulous and if you are planning on getting just a global colour then this Chocolate Brown shade with a tinge of Mahogany by itself is perfect too! :)

Step 2: Highlights

For the highlights we went with a Cool shade - 7/31 which is a Medium Gold Ash Blonde and complements the Warm global colour and my skin tone.

Asif once again divided my hair into segments and then applied the highlights in a technique called as Sunkissed, which is a technique from the Ombre application family. He used plastic sheets to separate the segments from bottom to top while application . The use of plastic was to see the development of the colour as the colour had to show up as dark to light. You can see below how the amount of colour is lesser at the top and increases towards the lower bit. We left the colour on for about 30 mins totally with certain sections being washed off in lesser time for the dark to light effect to set in.

Here is a preview of the Sunkissed highlights for you to see the transition of colour before I take you to the final pictures :)

Pretty isn't it!! And now for the best part of it all! The final look that Asif gave me! :)

The entire process from consultation to the 2 stages of colour processing took about 4 hours. It all actually depends on the length of your hair. The pricing at Jean-Claude Biguine for for the services of a Senior Style Director for ILLUMINA Color will cost you INR 5,000 onwards for Global Colour and INR 6,000 onwards for Highlights. The colour services otherwise start at INR 3,300 onwards for Global Colour and INR 4,500 onwards for Highlights.

I loved the shine and the luminosity of the colour that my hair radiated not only when it was freshly done, but also now which is 2 weeks since the hair colour session. Normally in other colours, copper which is present at the cuticle interferes with the standard colour development, which is what leaves your hair rough at the surface. However, ILLUMINA's Color Microlight technology surrounds the copper so it does not interfere with the development and increases cuticle protection resulting in smooth cuticles and outstanding light reflection. My verdict is that Wella Professionals have definitely invented a colour that is keeping up with its claims and I am hoping to see a lot more innovation from this range.

What do guys think of my new look and the new ILLUMINA Color? Would love to hear from you in the comments section below :)